There are many issues facing our country and each issue carries varying degrees of significance to each citizen. It appears that the White House has been able to take these issues, personalize them for a given audience, and acknowledge them in a way that suggests a level of concern and compassion. There is probably not a day goes by that President Obama isn’t meeting with groups where he speaks on topics specific to the audience rather than the broader issues that are facing our nation. Examples include speaking to students about loans, to women about contraception or corporate roadblocks, to labor about job creation/protection, to elderly about entitlement programs, to veterans about ending the war, to Latinos about immigration and so on and so forth. Taken on their own merit every one of these issues is important. However, the point is not how we feel about a particular issue affecting various segments of our society we know how it feels. We live it daily. So is there real empathy and compassion on the part of the President for those in the audience; I would like to believe there is. Or is this a superficial approach where the real underlying motive is to appeal to the parts? Remember in mathematics the equation; the sum of the parts equals the whole? In politics is the hope that appealing to the parts equals re-election? Is this fragmentation by design?
Let’s step back and think. We can all agree that each segment of our society has important issues that affect them personally and us as a nation. In order to become a great nation again every one of these issues need to be taken seriously and addressed over time. Unfortunately many Americans are frustrated by government infighting while so many issues affecting our lives go unresolved. It appears that our faith in “hope and change”, as fragile as it was, has been shattered with the reality that the system in place to fix problems is itself broken. It is a system where ownership of a problem is someone else’s responsibility. It is a system in which our elected representatives couldn’t even agree on the time of day if they were standing in front of Big Ben. So is it any wonder that when the President of the United States acknowledges issues, that are important to us personally, that a normal knee-jerk reaction is “wow someone can at least identify that there is a problem”? Not so fast. Though identifying the problem is the first step, it’s the easy one. It, however, gives me no confidence that identifying an issue will result in change if there is no solution offered to at least debate. A credible approach to problem solving is identification of the issues, prioritization based on importance, bipartisan debate on solutions, and finally implementation for change. However this approach to problem solving requires strong leadership. Mr. President that is why we elected you and that is what you promised. I for one am disappointed as I feel that we are on the great ship USS America with a captain who knows how to align deck chairs but is afraid to take the helm. It is a little late to tell us that your only experience in a boat was at the amusement park. My advice Mr. President, standup, be decisive, lead with conviction but for the sake of our nation lead! If you do, many will get behind you as our gain would be yours. If the challenge is too great, or you don’t have the skill set, please step aside and exit gracefully this fall for the sake of this nation. Hint: Start with the economy.
Good Luck Phil!
Bravo
Phil, good luck with your blog. You have made some very good points in your post. Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a politician around, Republican or Democrat, who has the will or leadership abilities to make the decisions that need to be made to get the United States out of the mess we have made for ourselves. We have become a nation of entitlement minded individuals instead of a nation of hard working, self sacrificing individuals. We are a nation of spenders, whether we have the money or not, instead of a nation of fiscally responsible individuals. We expect the government to solve our problems instead of taking personal responsibility for the mess me have gotten ourselves into. We are a bankrupt nation with a debt we will never be able to repay and promised entitlements that will never be paid. The solution to the problem is going to be painful to every American and the potential leaders who have the balls to address the problem, and take the actions necessary to get us back on track to be the greatest nation on earth, will be one term politicians if they were even electable. That is not likely when over 50% of the population is dependent on the government for their paycheck. Promising cutbacks in entitlement spending will surely lead to any politicians defeat. The medicine required to get us out of this mess will be so bad that they will be hated for the measures they had to take to save us. I hope a leader will emerge that can lead us in the right direction but it’s not going to be anyone in the upcoming election, especially the sitting President.
I do believe that the methodology is fragmentation by design and worse… using the taxpayers own money, paid as taxes to promote national interests, to bribe them with special interest promises! Voters are rewarded for votes based on special interest funding and promises in a display of shamelss self promotion.
Phil. Greetings and all the best to you and The Desert Voice. I believe the political process, which is essentially the process of taking, losing and dividing up power, is by necessity a fragmentation process. Power, after all, resides and derives from many different places and interests, and when it comes to going after that power I suppose one must go where the power can be gained. The astute politician must divide and conquer. Well, I suppose we could couch it all in “service to the country” language, but … nah… forget that. It also seems to me that our news media is so hopelessly sound-bitten and lost in triviality and transience, that the only way we hear or receive our information is out-of-context, one-off – i.e., fragmented. It’s what we demand and what we are willing to both settle and pay for, so we have little room to complain. Ouch…
I don’t have much time to “troll” blogs, so I don’t have a frame of reference, but I’m really impressed by how well-informed, cerebral and articulate both the blog writer and the responses are. I think “fragmentation by design” may have a more insididious impact than appears on the surface. A number of responses are quite cynical. I completely understand that it’s hard NOT to be cynical in this environment, but I hope it doesn’t lead to a feeling of hopelessness. The recent gubernatorial recall election in Wisconsin shows that there will always be forces of pure self-interest (and self-enrichment) that try to sway the polictical process, but if enough well-informed and motivated people decide they’re not going to let politicians be voted out of office for trying to “do the right thing,” then positive change CAN happen. Governor Walker HAS made a positive change in Wisconsin. Chris Christie HAS implemented positive change in NJ. If those in our country who THINK and try to stay informed throw up their hands and say “we can’t change this,” then it will become a self-fufilling prophecy. We can’t let that happen. “Step back, think, validate or challenge.” That’s IT…that’s it exactly!!
Good Luck Phil, and you nailed it on your first blog
Phil: I think you are right on. Wishing you every success with your new blog.
Okay, lets break this down a little. Arranging deck chairs is a great analogy and while I think Bush was a great leader in crisis he to failed the people in this country regarding the economy, education reform, Healthcare and Social Security but so did Clinton and Bush Sr. I can go back further but the point is made. We are a nation of people afraid to make the touch decisions. Fast food, fast cars, whats in it for me “today” we live in the sound bite of the times and it’s tough watching our country slowly but surely become a social state where mediocracy is encouraged and rewarded. Soap Box is over I’m off….
Nice job, Phil ! I enjoy reading your posts – honest, logical and straight forward – wish we could have leaders in Wall Street and government who could actually follow what they say. I think the old saying “judge them not by what they say, but by what they actually do in their actions” is appropriate, and they all come out fairly low.